Everything I Watched in March 2023
Things to add to your list!
Welcome to Gibson Johns’ pop culture newsletter — subscribe to get recommendations of what to watch, read and listen to in your inbox every week!
Back with another monthly watch list recap!
Once a month I send out a list of everything I watched the previous month to give you some ideas of things to add to your own watch lists, so I’m here to share the rundown of all of the stuff I watched in March. It was definitely a travel-heavy month, so this list is a bit shorter than usual, so there’s a little less to parse through here.
Also note that I only include seasons of TV shows that I finished in any given month — if it’s still on or I’m still currently watching it, then I’ll include it when it’s over.
You’ll find that my reactions to things lean positive, because 1. I actively try to seek out stuff that I expect to be entertaining, has been well reviewed and/or has value to me — I’m not just going to watch the most popular show on Netflix because everyone else is if I don’t think I would like it — and 2. I’ve given myself more leeway recently to give up on shows that I’m not enjoying (here’s the list of all the shows I dropped last year). I used to force myself to finish things even if I hated them, which is truly unnecessary and a waste of time.
Keep scrolling for the list of everything I watched in March 2023 (and here’s the list from February if you want more ideas for things to watch):
Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles - Season 14 (Bravo) 👍👍
14 seasons into Bravo’s premiere real estate show, they had what was perhaps their best season ever. They winnowed the cast down to just Josh Altman, Josh Flagg and Tracy Tutor, all of whom are genuinely friends with an authentically fun dynamic, and it just worked. Each of them are great real estate agents and reality stars, and it felt like new life had been breathed into this show.
The Real Housewives of Potomac - Season 7 (Bravo) 👍
“Potomac” is one of my favorite shows on Bravo, so I’m pretty much always going to enjoy it — the original casting was so strong (four OGs still on the cast over seven seasons in… a record!) and, even if the mechanics of the show feel off, they’re so effortlessly funny and are always going to make me laugh. That being said, this wasn’t the show’s best season. I hope the cast levels up for season 8, which should see them taking Robyn Dixon to task over not being forthcoming about what was really going on in her life during last season’s filming.
Women Talking (Prime) 👍👍
I watched this in the week leading up to the Oscars to try to keep ticking the nominated movies off my watch list, and I’m so glad I finally got to see this one. It’s a brilliant movie about a group of women in a religious colony who discuss the widespread sexual assault by men that’s been going on in their community and what they should do next. It’s poignant and timely and it deserved the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar that it won.
The Traitors UK (Peacock) 👍👍
Many people DM’d me to watch the British version of this competition show after I was so vocally obsessed with the American edition, and I finally gave in. Thank god I did. The UK version features all normies (no reality stars on this one — there’s a case to be made for the American version to just go all reality stars and cut the normies, as the mix doesn’t fully work), and the casting was phenomenal for this. I was obsessed with this one.
All Quite on The Western Front (Netflix) 👍
I enjoyed this movie as much as one can enjoy a bleak, three-hour German movie about World War I. It’s incredibly well-done, and I understood why it was so recognized at the Academy Awards. That being said, it’s not my cup of tea. If you like war movies, then watch this.
Poker Face (Peacock)👍👍
One of my favorite shows of the year. I’m a big Natashe Lyonne fan, but I really did not like her most recent show, “Russian Doll” on Netflix, so I was thrilled that I ended up enjoying this one. It follows her as she’s being chased around the country, hiding behind various odd jobs in wide-ranging locales and using her intuition to solve murders in each episode. It leans into her quirk as an actor, as well as Rian Johnson’s particular sensibility, and ends up being a really fun ride.
The Last of Us (HBO Max)👍
This will surely end up being one of the biggest shows of the year and rightfully so. It’s not perfect, and I had a hard time with the pacing at times, but ultimately it kept me rapt and entertained throughout this first season. Episode 3, of course, was an instant classic that I’ll be thinking about for quite some time, too. I’m curious where the show goes from here.
You - Season 4 (Netflix) 👐
The worst season of this show yet, unfortunately. The prospect of Joe operating across the pond was intriguing, but it never quite worked for me. It wasn’t bad, so I will keep watching through its fifth and final season — whenever that comes — but I’m happy it’s going out before it completely loses the plot.
MH370: The Plane That Disappeared (Netflix) 👐
Everyone told me to watch this three-part docuseries about the missing Malaysian Airlines flight from 2014, and I was underwhelmed. While there were a few good reveals (the flight simulator in the captain’s basement, for one) and it was fairly well-done, I hated how much of it felt like just a bunch of people throwing out conspiracy theories that ultimately held little to no weight.
The Real Housewives of Miami - Season 5 (Peacock) 👍👍
A watershed moment for “Real Housewives,” if you ask me! This fifth season felt classic in both an old school and new school kind of way. Nobody is doing it like our Miami girls, and I hope they keep the cast the exact same as they begin to film their sixth season soon. If you aren’t already watching “RHOM,” I’m not sure what else I could do to convince you to. You have time between seasons to catch up — if you want to just start with season 4 (when the decade-delayed return happened), that works, but you’re missing some crucial backstory if you do that. Season 2 is also an all-time best season of “Real Housewives.”
Daisy Jones and The Six (Prime) 👍👍
The first two episodes of this adaptation left me completely bored, and I almost didn’t keep going. But then multiple people told me unrelatedly that it gets good in episode three when Daisy joins the band, and they were right. I loved the rest of the series, and I haven’t been able to stop listening to the soundtrack. The finale, in particular, was fantastic.
Shrinking (Apple TV+) 👍
This show with Jason Segal, Harrison Ford and Jessica Williams was never as good as I wanted it to be, honestly, but I still ended up liking it. My attention drifted in and out, but there was a lot to like here, especially from a lot of the supporting characters — Michael Urie, Christa Miller, Luke Tennie and Heidi Gardner were all great in this and I loved whenever they entered a scene.
Tetris (Apple TV+) 👍
Taron Egerton stars in this thriller about a man trying to obtain the rights to Tetris from Russia and disseminate the game to the world. It drags a bit in the middle and some of the stakes get a bit confusing (the movie doesn’t always clearly explain the differences in rights between consult and computer and handheld and yada yada yada), but ultimately this captured my attention and the payoff was sweet. If you liked this, by the way, and haven’t watched Taron in “Black Bird” from last year — add that to your list! One of my favorites from last year.
Swarm (Prime) 👍
With a good amount of travel this month, I was a bit late to consuming this one, meaning I missed some of the social media hoopla around it, but I’m glad I finished it. Dominique Fishback delivers what will end up being one of the performances of the year as a crazed fan of a Beyoncé-esque artist who turns into a serial killer. While her performance is basically flawless, the show teeters between genuinely great satire, dark humor and unsettling crime in a way that doesn’t always work.